Migrants make their way to board a train for Serbia at the border between Greece and Macedonia on Sept. 5, 2015.(Photo: Matthieu Alexandre, AFP/Getty Images)

The growing influx of people seeking asylum in European nations this summer is spurring debate over whether it's more proper to label them as migrants or refugees.

A migrant is defined as a person who moves from place to place, usually to get work or seek economic prospects. A refugee is a person who flees a country fearing certain death or persecution as a result of religion, race, opinions or nationality.

While refugees are afforded basic rights and protections such as the right to shelter or legal assistance, migrants are not, and can be legally ejected from countries.

The distinction is important because many of the people fleeing Africa, the Middle East and Asia are refugees under the established definition, but many also fall under the category of migrant — they may be extremely poor and disadvantaged, but their lives are not necessarily immediately at risk.

European governments are accused of favoring the term migrant because it theoretically absolves them of some responsibilities. Activists and campaigning organizations argue it is important to classify the tens of thousands of people arriving at Europe's shores as refugees for that reason.

"Conflating refugees and migrants can have serious consequences for the lives and safety of refugees," the U.N. refugee agency states on its website. "Blurring the two terms takes attention away from the specific legal protections refugees require. It can undermine public support for refugees and the institution of asylum at a time when more refugees need such protection than ever before."

Some countries, including Germany and many others in the EU, feel that people from, say, Serbia, should not be granted asylum on the same basis as someone from Syria. Still others argue that it can be difficult to distinguish between political/religious and economic persecution.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says the people streaming into Europe this summer can be classified as both migrants and refugees.

"The majority of people arriving this year in Italy and Greece especially have been from countries mired in war or which otherwise are considered to be 'refugee-producing' and for whom international protection is needed. However, a smaller proportion is from elsewhere, and for many of these individuals, the term 'migrant' would be correct," the agency says on its website.

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